In a perfect world, every dog and cat would have a healthy loving home where they could happily live out their days. Unfortunately, the reality is that there are 7.6 million animals that enter the shelter system each year, according to dosomething.org.
But one shelter has gotten pretty close to that perfect world.
The Harrison County Animal Shelter of Indiana managed to adopt out every single one of their dogs and cats a week ago.
“It’s a first for the shelter,” Animal Control Warden for Harrison County Franca Hardin said. “It’s a huge deal. Something that we are very proud of as a staff.”
According to WAVE3, the shelter, which holds 50 cats and has 18 full-sized dog runs and extra space for dogs, was completely full just a week before everyone was adopted.
“It’s a really a big shock more than anything because I’ve been here going on six years and it’s never happened,” Office Manager Amber Brewer told WAVE3.
It wasn’t too long ago when the shelter had 25 cats that checked-in before lunchtime.
“Right now, us not having anything, is like…my mind blown,” Brewer said
What’s even more miraculous was that they did this all without a website and instead relied on more creative methods to find their animals suitable homes.
The shelter’s creative team spends their time coming up with interesting bios and backstories for their pets.
They also come up with fun names for their animals, such as Lil’ Kim (named for the rapper) or Disney-themed names.
“We wanted to create an environment that was healthy for the animals and appealing to the public,” Hardin answered. “A lot of kids come in here and are like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Elsa, I’ve got to have Elsa!'”
They rely heavily on social media and audience participation in social media to post photos and information about their pets who are available for adoption.
“We attribute our adoption success to the social media community,” Brewer told The Dodo.
“Their posts on social media are instrumental in maximizing the visibility of every animal, from those available for adoption to stray animals getting reunited with their families. They truly make a huge difference.”
Thanks to social media pets that were lost and returned to their owners were up by 75 percent.
Despite their success in emptying their shelter last week, the shelter didn’t stay empty for long.
Two kittens, Carlos and Evan, and a dog named Heavenly were placed for adoption just yesterday.
But the shelter doesn’t mind one bit as long as their helping to find animals forever homes.
Regardless of how long their animals are at the shelter, they are never euthanized and the shelter keeps accepting animals as long as they have the space for them.
“It’s what we want to do,” Hardin said. “We want to keep going.”
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